Dr Manmohan Singh — former Prime Minister of India, noted economist, technocrat and the architect of India’s liberalised economy that achieved high growth from a phenomenal low of the balance of payments crisis, is no more. Singh, who had been ailing for a while, breathed his last at Delhi’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences this evening. He was 92.
The man seen as the reluctant politician was the automatic choice for Sonia Gandhi when, after an unexpected UPA victory, she stepped away from the post that was her right by rule and tradition.
Dr Singh’s background as Reserve Bank Governor, former finance minister and Secretary General of the South-South Commission and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission made the choice easy.
In a first, India was treated to live television proceedings that showed a queue of Congress leaders asking Mrs Gandhi to rethink her decision as she stood shoulder to shoulder to Manmohan Singh.
While the economy has never looked back after the liberalisation of 1991, delivering an average growth rate that stayed around 8 per cent, Manmohan Singh took the other huge step in 2009.
The India-US nuclear deal was forged in the fire of a huge political row in the country — a pullout of support by the CPM and a challenge to Dr Singh’s government to prove majority.
The deal he stood by ended the era of sanctions placed on India after the Pokhran 2 nuclear tests of 1998 with partial sanctions by IAEA that covered only the civil nuclear facilities.
Ironically, a man whose personal honesty has never been questioned came to preside over a government that was marked by a series of scams — 2G, CWG and Coal block allocations and the resultant policy paralysis of the government – that provided an opening to the Opposition BJP and Narendra Modi to attack the government.
The other huge criticism against his government was sparked by a perception of a dual power centre in the Congress where the power vested with then party chief Sonia Gandhi and not the Prime Minister.
Books by his former media adviser Sanjaya Baru and some other bureaucrats helped to highlight the charge and offered ammunition to critics who accused him of being the weakest Prime Minister India ever had. Dr Singh, however, maintained that history would be kinder to him.
